


Statement Of The Ceaseless Watcher

by Urbenmyth



Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [13]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Doxxing, Homophobia, I didn't quite intend this one to get so fucking bleak, Maybe the real eyepocalypse was 2020, Paranoia, Police Brutality, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, hate groups, mass surveillance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27650123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urbenmyth/pseuds/Urbenmyth
Summary: What is the Beholding, really? Some unblinking eye, watching from the sky? Some figure in a suit making you spill your secrets? A figure watching from every camera, or an immortal watching through a dozen eye sockets?No.The Beholding, at it's core, is simply all the things you already know.
Series: Tales Beyond The Archives [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965088
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27





	Statement Of The Ceaseless Watcher

There’s no such thing as the Eye.

Of course there’s not. You know that. Of course you do

Don’t listen to [the whispers of shadows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550303). Don’t listen to the lies of superstition and paranoia. It’s just delusion, you know.

Simply being scared of something doesn’t make it _real_. That’s absurd. It’s all fiction. None of its real. We all know that.

So relax. Take a deep breath. Make a cup of tea. There’s no need to be scared.

Just surf the internet. Have fun. It's all fine.

_ Somewhere, men in suits record your browsing history. And more. It’s all legal now, they’re allowed to. Did you put tape over your webcam? Did you turn your microphone off? Of course you didn’t. They take information, record it, put you into a category. A person of interest, maybe. On a watchlist? Connected to dangerous groups? Known associate? Just to watch, or to act on? To follow? To take away? _

_ You don’t know. They do. _

_ They see you. _

Are you scared? Don’t be.

It’s all for the good of society, after all. You agree, right? You’ve never done anything that you might want to hide?

Of course not. There’s nothing to worry about.

No body-jumping eyes or thin men in your nightmares.

The world is safe. Remember that.

There is no Watcher.

Maybe message a friend? Talk to someone online?

_ Far away, a group of rich men in clean rooms buy your statuses, your tweets, your posts. They take your love and hate, your joy and fear, your hopes and dreams, and they pull it apart. They look for buzzwords, distilling you into a category. I’m guessing young? LGBT? Mentally ill? Am I right? _

_ No matter. They’ll find a box. They’ll strip away your humanity and leave only a wallet to be exploited. _

_ They open your history and drink their fill. _

What’s wrong?

You agreed to that, remember?

You signed the contract, and if you didn’t know the contract, well. You should learn to Know.

They know, after all. They know your name and gender and history and health and relationships. They know everything.

You look uncomfortable.

Don’t be.

A walk, perhaps?

_ Nearby, a camera watches you. Camera after camera. They look down at you, record where you go. If you’re lost, you will be found. If you run, they will find you. The men in uniforms and the men in plain clothes watch you. The vans see you. The detectives see you. They could look through your phone, your computers, your letters and your house. All they need to do is ask. _

_ They grant you privacy, for now. _

_ For now, they do not take your Statement. _

There’s no need to be afraid, after all. They’re only looking to keep you safe, to watch this flock of sheep for wolves. Every private place is a place evil can hide. Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear, right?

And you have nothing to hide, do you?

There’s nothing for you to be scared of, right?

_ Far away, a computer holds all your information. Your money. Your home. Your secrets. It would be so easy to hack, so easy to get in. So easy for someone to reach in and take your life for their own. Of course, they must keep it safe. Right? These people who take everything about you, this archive of your weaknesses and vulnerability. Don’t you trust them? _

_ You keep giving them information. You must trust them, right? _

There is nothing to fear.

_ The crowd watches from screens and forums and text messages. It takes so little to be noticed. You post something supporting your right to live. You make a statement, warped out of context. You anger some minor king in his petty court. And they descend. Stalking, doxxing, recording, infiltration. A thousand hateful eyes, turning their gaze upon another wretched thing. Until there is nothing left but ruins. _

The Entities aren’t real.

_ The churches and cults and crowds keep their watch. Sinners, degenerates, heretics, traitors. Do they see you? Do they know what you do behind closed doors? Do they look at you? Do they see that you’re an enemy yet? Are you passing, are you in a safe area, are you seeing those eyes looking for someone else to hate, to punish, to destroy? Are you Watched? _

There’s no great and alien god that sees and knows and does not understand. That’s just fiction. It’s not real. It was never real.

_ There are a thousand files on you, a thousand eyes, a thousand watchers. They share notes, the first and second and third estate passing between them, selling and trading. Every moment of your life is made into a commodity for the right men. Men with only human eyes forming dossiers after dossiers. Passwords and bank details, secrets told in confidence, lies exposed and truths hidden. Everything is known, as soon as someone wishes to know. They need merely ask. _

And that means there is no need for you to fear the Beholding.

Doesn’t it?


End file.
